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Monthly Archives: May 2009

Recently I stumbled upon a blog-article from Steve Dubner, one of the authors of the book “Freakonomics”. The article was titled “Herd Mentality, the Freakonomics of Boarding a Bus”. In the article, Steven Dubner narrates a passage of his every day life…from an economist’s prespective.

Dubner and his daughter ride the bus together…they live in NYC, and as it is the case in most big cities during rush hour; the buses are crowded and full of impatient people trying to get to their intended destinations. For Dubner, the bus stop closest to his house is also a bus stop next to a subway station, which means that the amount of people waiting for the bus tends to be higher at that particular stop than in other bus stops.

I cannot imagine trying to get through a mob of people with a three year old by my side…and apparently Steve couldn’t either…he figured out a way to avoid this situation; by walking 250 yards down to the bus stop located one block before the crowded bus stop…thus avoiding the crowd and increasing his chances of finding seats for himself and his daughter.

As a conclusion to his article Steve Dubner asks himself; “why aren’t more people doing this?” As a good economist, Dubner wonders why more people are not adopting a small change in their commuting habits (walking 250 yards) which would increase their likelihood of finding a seat…do they not mind standing in the bus? Are they intimidated by the prospect of walking 250 yards? What is it?

The answer (according to Dubner) is herd mentality.

What is herd mentality?

Pat Thomas, general curator at the Bronx Zoo explains herd mentality as” the idea that the individual members of a herd relate, behave in a similar fashion,” … “so that they don’t stand out and appear different than their group mates.”

In human experience, herd mentality can describe how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items.

According to Dubner’s blog-article, people would rather stay where the “herd” is (which in this case is the crowded bus stop), than behave differently and act out as individuals…even if this behavior is beneficial for them…

I don’t know about you, but this statement kind of scares me…and makes me wonder:

How much of our life is determined by Herd Mentality ?

Economics, Finance, Fashion, politics, and peer interactions are areas of our lives where herd mentality plays a role in the decisions we make…

Scientists at the University of Leeds conducted an experiment trying to explore the dynamics of herd mentality. In their experiment, they put people in a large hall and instructed them to walk around randomly…however, they had instructed some people to follow a specific route.

The participants were not allowed to communicate with each other…but in the end it turned out that the individuals who had been instructed to walk a certain route were followed by the others…thereby causing the whole crowd to follow the route and walk in an organized way…as opposed to randomly…without communicating!

Several experiments (including this one) conclude that in crowds of 200 individuals, a group of five percent was enough to influence the rest of their peers.

Why does almost everyone in a crowd adopt the same behavior? The French sociologist Gustav Le Bon in his research about crowd behavior noticed how crowds foster anonymity (Contagion Theory). Thus, not only do crowds validate a behavior, they also foster anonymity. They can make people feel protected, but they can also make them feel lost.

The book of Mark narrates one instance in which Jesus found himself in the midst of a crowd…according to the passage “the crowd was following and pressing against Jesus” (Mark 5:24) and out of nowhere… a woman who was chronically ill approached Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak.

As he was walking in the midst of a crowd, Jesus noticed that someone had touched his cloak…and he asked “who touched my clothes?”

The disciples were baffled by this question…they answer “you see the people crowding against you (bumping into you) and yet you ask ‘who touched me’” (Mark 5:31)…I can see the disciples almost asking Jesus “are you kidding???”

But Jesus wasn’t kidding…he continued to look around, until the woman who had been healed came forward and kneeled before him…

Jesus didn’t let the woman get lost in the crowd…he recognized her and showed empathy and compassion towards her. Her action stopped Jesus in His track, and Jesus’ response towards her changed the trajectory of her life from a downward spiral to a life of hope.

The woman who “had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse”(Mark 5:26) was set in a new direction by Jesus’ words when he told her; “Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34)…those are beautiful words… especially considering that this woman had been waiting to hear those words for over 10 years.

We can see in the bible several instances in which Christ interacted with the crowds…he spoke to multitudes, he fed those multitudes, he walked through the crowds…he was used to dealing with lots and lots of people at the same time… and contrary to what research shows about people’s tendency to get lost in the crowd and adopt a herd mentality, Jesus never ever allowed himself to get lost in the crowd and he also never allowed anybody else to get lost either…

According to scripture, when Jesus saw the crowds, “he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”(Mat 9:36) Jesus said of himself; “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me…I lay down my life for the sheep”. (John 10:14)

These verses shed so much light into Jesus relationship to the crowds…he sees himself as the Shepherd and the crowds are the sheep; a Shepherd doesn’t follow the sheep, he leads them, and he also cares for them…for a shepherd, sheep are never anonymous…and each one of them has great value in his eyes.

Matthew 18:12-14 explains this shepherd-sheep relationship in the following way:

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep,and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nineon the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheepthan about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing thatany of these little ones should be lost.”

Jesus, just like a good shepherd, will not let anybody get lost in the crowd…he will not let you or me get lost…

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;I will counsel you and watch over you”Psalm 32:8

It is important to notice that the relationship of the shepherd to his sheep is not one sided, it is mutual. The shepherd tends his sheep, but he is able to do so because the sheep recognize and follow the shepherd. Jesus said “my sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me” (John 10:28)

How can we as sheep listen to Jesus our Shepherd?

1. By Reading God’s Word

“ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped forevery good work:”

2nd Timothy 3:16-17

“Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth”John 17:17

I am sure most of us have daily routines in which we set time apart to meet with friends, go to the gym, study…etc…we can do the same with the word of God…set time apart to read and meditate on it.

Once you start receiving the devotionals in your email…you can dedicate a few minutes while you sit on your computer to read and meditate on God’s word…

2. By listening to the Holy Spirit within us

Another way in which God speaks to us is through the Holy Spirit within us….the bible says;

“But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”John 16:13

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceivedwhat God has prepared for those who love him, but God hasrevealed it to us by his Spirit”1 Corinthians 2: 9-10

How does the guidance of the Holy Spirit look life in our daily life? Author Bruce Main introduced a good expression to explain the way the Holy Spirit guides us…

In his book ”Holy Hunches”, Main notices that on several occasions people have been guided in their daily life by means of hunches or nudges… it is not a fire bush talking to them, it is that inner prompting to do something…”to put our faith into action”… he says “God-inspired (Holy) hunches can happen to ordinary people doing ordinary things”…that’s a pretty broad category; it includes everyone….

I like the expression “Holy Hunch”…because it is not something we hear with our ears, or see with our eyes…it comes to us as the verse in Corinthian says…by his Spirit…to our spirit.

God is on the line wanting to speak to us….are we listening?

Who belongs to the top five percent?

Experts in the study of change call the individuals who embrace a new trend and adopt a different behavior the trendsetters or innovators.

Trendsetters and innovators are the first ones in a group to follow a specific direction a.k.a the top five percent…

Trendsetters/innovators are followed by the early adopters, afterwards comes the early majority, followed by the late majority, and lastly, the laggards.

Several studies confirm that any group behavior will follow this progression;1. innovators/trendsetters, 2. early adopters, 3. early majority, 4. late majority and 5. laggards.

Jesus calls us to be innovators…he wants us to be part of the crowd, but not led by the crowd…

“For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness;but of power and love and discipline.”2nd Timothy 1:7

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadowof death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”Psalm 23:4

King David said “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” it is my prayer that we also experience God’s provision and guidance in our life as we follow his voice with renewed purpose.

I guess this is one of those confessions that I might regret ever making…and it is kind of embarrassing to admit…but here it goes; when I was young, I wanted to be a marching band girl…the kind that walks in cute little pleated skirts and twirls the baton to the beat of the drums with a smile on her face and the perfect posture all along… I admit it…I am guilty as charged.

When I was growing up, there was a school near my house that had marching band practice in the afternoons… they would rehearse going up and down the street where I lived. I remember how I would ask my mom to let me go out and watch the band walk by…I loved everything about the marching band, the music, the drums, the coordination, the batons, and the elegance of the performance…as much as a four year old can appreciate such things.

After watching the band, I would run inside the house, take the broom stick and try to mimic the baton routines that I had just seen…I was seriously obsessed with being like those girls…

To my dismay, I never managed to convince my mom to buy me a baton (probably because she thought I would poke my sister or something)… but my sister and I succeeded in convincing our mom to buy us pleated skirts like the ones the band girls wore…and we wore those skirts ALL THE TIME…

As I grew up, my interest in becoming a band girl disappeared… my school did not have a marching band, and realistically speaking…had there been a marching band in my school I would probably have been too embarrassed to even try out. Once I reached my teen years I stopped thinking that marching band girls were that cool…until today, when I stumbled upon the following article:

Girl beats off muggers with marching Band Baton

QUARTZ HILL, Calif. – Don’t mess with the marching band. That’s what California authorities are saying after a 17-year-old girl used her marching band baton to beat back two would-be muggers.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Michael Rust says the Quartz Hill girl was walking to school April 24 when two men approached her from behind, tried to grab her coat and demanded money.

Instead, one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton before she ran away.

The men had not been caught. But Rust says there’s a clear message to take from the encounter:

“The moral to this story is don’t mess with the marching band girls, or you just might get what you deserve. Final score: marching band 2, thugs 0.”

This article reminds me of those movie scenes where the thug tries to attack the proverbial defenseless old lady…and the old lady ends up beating the thug with her purse and rendering him helpless.

I don’t know why such scenes give me a warm, fuzzy, feeling on the inside…I guess I get a certain satisfaction when I see that the turn of events totally takes people by surprise…there is a certain irony about it…and the thugs are completely baffled, because they encounter exactly the opposite of what they had anticipated…

The bible narrates a similar instance, in which Jesus caught the disciples by surprise by choosing to do exactly the opposite of what they had expected of him…

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet (John 13)

1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am.14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

Entertaining & Etiquette

When was the last time you had guests over at your home?

I am sure that the last time you had guests over at your home, you prepared in advance for the occasion and tried to make your guests feel as welcome and comfortable as possible, right?

At the time when Jesus walked on earth, good hosts would normally have a servant available to wash the guest’s feet at dinner parties or similar social occasions.

This was a necessary action in light of two important facts; first of all Jewish people would walk in dusty roads all day long, and when they sat at the dinner table, their feet would be at the same level as the rest of their body (they did not use chairs like we do) so it was a necessary hygienic measure to have not only clean hands but also clean feet at the table. Secondly, it was an act of hospitality which signaled appreciation on behalf of the host for the guest’s presence in his home… in a way it is like saying “I am glad you could make it”, or even “I am honored to have you at my table”.

The passage narrated in John 13 begins with a very poignant statement about Jesus feelings on that night when he was having supper with his disciples. Jesus was aware that he was not going to be with his disciples for much longer…that he was leaving them…and of course he wanted to show them his love in a very practical way; by wrapping a towel around his waist and washing their feet.

Jesus; The servant leader

Jesus was in a position of authority, the bible says that “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power”… and in spite of this, he chose to dispose of all human conventions and instead of taking the role of a magnanimous host showing appreciation for his guests, he took the role of a humble servant who cleanses the dirt that people gather from the ground.

I can imagine the disciples not knowing how to react in light of this major faux pas…in their minds Jesus, their Master and Lord shouldn’t be performing this kind of service to his lowly disciples…

Peter managed to muster up some courage and tried to stop Jesus from washing his feet. When we read about it in the bible it seems like Peter is trying to save Christ from the indignity of becoming like a mere servant…but Peter did not understand that Jesus had come to serve…he was a servant leader who taught by example.

Jesus is the King of Kings, he has all the authority and power, yet he chooses to act as someone in a position of powerlessness and service.

After washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus asks a very crucial question: “Do you understand what I have done for you?”… “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Jesus doesn’t want us to literally go around washing people’s feet…but he does want us to let go of our conventions in order to show love and appreciation for each other.

Concluding Thoughts

Paul encourages the church to be like Christ in his humility…

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:6Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,7but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.8And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfand became obedient to death—even death on a cross!9Therefore God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name,10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2 5-11

According to Paul, we shouldn’t hold on to any kind of status, position, or social conventions but we should follow Christ’s example…

Have you ever thought you are too cool/old/young/smart/clean/mature in order to serve others?

Or conversely, have you ever thought that someone is too bad/lost/immature/annoying/dirty for you to reach out in love to that person?

I know I am guilty of having done that…but when I think that Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords did not think of himself as being too much of anything in order to humbly serve others…I can only pray that God will help me gain humility…because those who go down the path of humility are brought up in God’s sight…and Jesus is an example worth following.

Today as I was walking home, I noticed a group of policemen and reporters standing at the door of the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai, which is almost next door to my appartment building.

I had no clue what was going on…I didn’t think much of it though.

I walked to the building and saw a lady wiping the floor with chlorine… I still did not connect the dots, I went home and started watching T.V.

A couple of hours later my husband came home, he told me “the street is full with policemen, apparently someone with the swine-flu fell over in the hotel next door”…in that moment, it all made sense to me… I couldn’t believe that I missed all the sings…

I guess in retrospect it all seems too obvious; the H1N1 virus is all over the media…and I knew that it had come to Asia…there were warning signs all over…but I missed them, I guess I never imagined it would get so close….

Warnings

This incident made me wonder; how many times have I heard warnings and I failed to pay attention?

Warnings are preventative statements which guide us to safety in different settings of life…and we know them since childhood…from our parents, teachers and other authority figures. Warnings are given to us in most cases by people who care for our wellbeing to a greater or lesser extent…right?

This I came across a documentary named “Zeitgeist”, and what I saw reminded me of a warning given to us in the Bible; Peter warns Christians in 2nd Peter 2 that there would be people who would deny Christ’s divinity…he calls them false teachers.

The documentary “Zeitgeist” is one of those teachings…it begins with a description of different mythological figures of antiquity. It records how various civilizations had similar accounts of a “savior god”…which sound very similar to Jesus Christ…putting into question whether Christ is really the only true God-savior.

The way I came across “Zeitgeist” is because as a result of watching the documentary, someone asked the question, “How do we know that Jesus is the real God”? So I figured I should try to understand where the question is coming from….

As I watched the documentary, there were accounts of several Egyptian, Indian, and Greek mythical gods who were said to have the same traits as Jesus did. I wasn’t familiar with any of them until something caught my attention… a very specific comparison made between a Greek god named Dionysius and Jesus.

I remembered a course that I took my third year of college called “Classics”…it was an overview of Greek Mythology and Literature.

Dionysius

Dionysius is an important figure in ancient Greek culture because he is linked with the classic Greek theatre.

Oedipus Rex (a piece that most people read in high school) was written by Sophocles to be performed in the theater festival; a festival in honor of Dionysius celebrated each spring.

Dionysius is said to be the god who discovered how to make wine and he is also the god of nature and fertility (source: Encyclopedia Mythica http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dionysus.html) …every spring as the green sprouts emerged after the winter and the animals were mating; the Greeks would interpret this as the resurrection of Dionysius. This is what I had learned about Dionysius at the University in my “Classics” course.

As I watched the video, I couldn’t help but notice that some concrete statements were made about Dionysius; the video stated that Dionysius is said to “turn water into wine” which according to my understanding of the mythological account is a gross generalization…

Dyonisius is said to have discovered and perfected the process of wine creation, which he later on spread through Asia-minor. This act is completely different to a miraculous act of transubstantiation (turning one substance into a different substance) performed by Jesus…the Bible narrates in the New Testament how Jesus turned water into wine…not by a process, but by a miraculous act. (I have included the text which is John 2).

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”They did so,9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Having studied a bit of Greek mythology, I could see how the statements made about Dyonisius in the “Zeitgeist” documentary are deceitful…it is clear to me that the producers of the video have the intention of presenting the Biblical account of Jesus’ life and resurrection as nothing but a repeated version of other previous mythologies…when it is not at all the case…

Broad generalizations such as the ones used in this documentary are dangerous; history has shown that they lead to prejudice and exclusion. As an individuals, people normally wouldn’t pass judgment on someone based on stereotypes or generalizations about their race, ethnicity or culture… Now, it is should be the same case with faith…we should encourage people not to base their conclusions about God or Jesus on broad generalizations.

I am not familiar with Indian, Persian or Egyptian mythology…but I am sure that when looking at them in detail we will find that the statements made in the documentary about those mythical figures are not completely true…that generalizations have also been used in those cases to make the mythical figures seem exactly the same as Jesus… this means that you cannot trust the statements made in the video…Jesus is not a mythological figure.

There is ample historical evidence that Jesus was an actual person who lived and walked on earth 2000 years ago. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded the existence of Jesus (37 A.D.), another Roman historian named Cornelius Tacitus recorded Jesus’ existence too (112 A.D). I do not think that other historians have documented the existence of Dionysius or other mythological figures; because they are mythology….but Jesus is real.

Concluding Thoughts

1 Timothy 2:5 says:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for his disciples:

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician once said:

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.“

It is so important for us as Christians to be aware of the value of the truth we know…and to guard it and defend it…

1 Peter 3:15 says:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

Jesus is real, Jesus is God and he saves…some might want to deny these facts…We can consider ourselves warned.

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